Tactical brilliance...

[SckizoBoy]

Well, there is some debate over whether the English best the French at Agincourt, or whether the French would have lost even if the opposing army hadn't actually turned up.

Though, if it was planned, it was a very good decision to fight in a position where the enemy would obligingly wipe themselves out in a massive cokc-up.

Even assuming the archers played a decisive part (that is, more than sticking pointed stakes in the ground to keep the French cavalry off), people argue that they were useful due to being light and unarmoured and maneoverable in the mud, as opposed to heavily armoured French knights on foot.

Mmm, I'm fairly sure that modern estimates place the odds at between 2-1 and 5-2 (ish). And the foot soldiers at the back and so much trouble clambering over the piled corpses of horses and trapped nobles they were easy picking.

I much prefer the Battle of Poitiers 1356. Genoese crossbowmen (who decided not to bring their pavises) vs Welsh longbowmen (and the Brits won because the crossbows warped in the rain that preceded the battle, while the longbows were snugly wrapped and unstrung).

I'm not so sure. Yes, they were vastly outnumbered, but they had a massive technological advantage. IMHO, the British would have won at Isandlwana, if it wasn't for their commanding officer not taking the enemy seriously. Standing orders were to fortify the camp against attack, but he couldn't be bothered, for example.

You've reminded me of bloody Lord Chelmsford. I'm going to be annoyed for a while now...(!)

 

[Toaster Hunter]

Napoleon Bonaparte. Just look at Austerlitz, completely crushing the Russian army by actually giving up the high ground, contrary to every piece of doctrine ever said about warfare.

I'm half tempted to issue a dickishness warning (for myself, that is).

Platzen Heights was where most of the allies were. The tactical masterstroke was luring them off of it, charging Soult up the hill in twenty minutes and mullering everyone left. Then, Napoleon had the high ground and proceeded to beat shit... *much despotic laughter ensues*

You're right. Sorry, I haven't studied Napoleon in a little while and got a bit confused. Still a stroke of brilliance, though.

 

[RamirezDoEverything]

George Washington,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Trenton

 

[Combined]

Battle of Tannenberg, 1410.
Battle of Ula, 1564.
Battle of Kircholm, 1605.

In addition to those great National strategic and tactical victories, several others that I admire greatly due to strategic, tactical or both kinds of military brilliance and was forced to learn from during my military officer's strategy and tactics training:

-The Battle of Dien Bien Phu, 1954.
-The Battle of Lodi, 1796.
-The Battle of the Pyramids, 1798.
-The Battle of Borodino, 1812, which was the culmination of the brilliant Russian Campaign against Napoleon.
-The Battle of Hastings, 1066.
-The Battles of Stalingrad and Kursk, 1942-1943.
-D-Day, 1944.
-Battle of Verdun, 1916.
-Battle of Ypres, 1914.
-Battles of Caporetto and Vittorio Veneto, 1917-1918.
-The Fabian campaign during the Second Punic War, 218-202 BC.

 

[SsilverR]

After reading a plethora of responses on my WWII leaders thread, I got wondering...

Question: which battle, in your opinion, displayed true tactical brilliance?

Just the one condition: don't mention the Battle of Cannae, 'cos we all know Hannibal was the grand-daddy of tactics.

Good evening... for now.

Look up "Operation Mince-meat" executed by the British during world war 2

 

[Veylon]

Half the stuff the Mongols did. One trick was to spread stories about how deadly dangerous they were so that every peasant in the area would flood into the nearest fortified city. More people in a city meant that they'd go through their food that much faster and surrender that much sooner.

Another was to feign defeat/panic/fear to lure the enemy into charging or at least pulling them out of a defensive position. There were a number of cities that were caught with their collective pants down after it seemed like the Mongols had given up and left.

The Mongols under the Khans were very flexible tactically and willing to try anything that would give them an advantage in battle.

 

[SckizoBoy]

Look up "Operation Mince-meat" executed by the British during world war 2

*dickishness-mode switched on*

The deception plan to have some recently dead Welsh guy with... oh, you know the details, so never mind.

Not really a tactic. That is a strategem.

*ahem* Semantics, yes. However, as strategems go, yes, that was one of the best ever executed. Aside from the obvious few during the Three Kingdoms period, Bismarck's goading of the French, Hannibal at Ager Falernus and Nero in the leadup to Metaurus, can't think of any better off the top of my head.

 

[Tsaba]

first thing that comes to mind is.....

 

[Humble Grapefruit]

The Russians in WWII retreating back into their own freezing territory, burning crops to leave the unprepared Nazis to freeze and starve in the unforgiving Russia.

 

[RhombusHatesYou]

Rats of Tobruk FTW. But seriously. Outnumbered and stuck in a town, with the tactical genius of Rommel against you, the Aussies did pretty well, for like a year.

The Rats didn't hold out because of tactical genius, though. General Morsehead earned himself the nickname 'Ming the Merciless' for good reason, he was ruthless and bloody minded. Luckily for him the average Digger (Aussie soldier) of the time was just as bloody minded as their commander so they didn't frag his arse.

 

[Devil's Due]

Landing of Inchon by General Douglas MacArthur, which overwhelmed the North Korean People's Army in a surprise shock-and-awe bombardment and landing of over 75,000 U.S. Marines that would later push towards the then-captured city of Seoul and liberate it, which as we all know would later become South Korea's capital city. Brilliant move, General MacArthur.

 

[Jodah]

Most of my top ten have been listed already but The Cowpens from the American Revolution is up there too. Using the tactics of the day it was pretty ingenious, using the pride of the militia members to beat the British regulars. If you ever saw the Patriot the final battle is based, at least loosely, around that battle and others that used similar tactics later.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Cowpens#Morgan.27s_plan